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Combeferre sat the couch, pouring over a star map on the coffee table as several packets of glow-in-the-dark stars sat in a haphazard pile on the other end, waiting to be stuck up on the ceiling. He’d already prepared his canvas, brought in a ladder, and carefully marked out where all the stars would be going. Now, he was just waiting for assistance to arrive.
Five minutes later, he scrambled to answer a knock at the door, grinning widely as he ushered Jehan into the room. “Come, I’ve gotten everything set out.”
Jehan grinned as he saw the mess scattered around the room, proper evidence of a Combeferre mission in progress, picking up a sheet of stars. “What’s first?”
“I was thinking we could take turns on the ladder, switch out whenever it gets uncomfortable to look up at the ceiling,” Combeferre replied, moving the ladder to the far corner to start, aiming to move outwards from there. “I got a cramp in my neck putting up all the markings on the placement, but all we have to do is stick them to the ceiling.”
Prouvaire smiled, stepping up onto the ladder and reaching to press the first star firmly onto the ceiling. “You have all the constellations you could fit up there, don’t you.”
“Of course,” Combeferre agreed, grabbing the ladder to hold it steady as his friend climbed up to the very top step, just a tad too short to reach from the one under it. “How else would I do it?” He teased, grabbing another sheet of stars for when Jehan had emptied the one in his hand. “I think Enjolras mildly regrets giving me permission to turn our ceiling into the night sky.”
“How long did it take you to get everything ready?” Jehan laughed softly, trying to imagine Enjolras watching as Combeferre fussed over where exactly to put each star. He was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to such things, and it drove Enjolras nuts. Especially when his course of action would be to just put the stars into random places, more for the looks, than the scientific detail.
“He made me promise not to take them down and redo them every time the seasons change, that’s how long.” Combeferre grinned sheepishly as Prouvaire laughed. “He says he’d rather have an inaccurate night sky half the year, if you’re going to fuss this much over it.’” Combeferre quoted, pausing. “That was when I knocked over my stack of books and woke him up.”
“Maybe we could do the winter constellations in my apartment,” Prouvaire suggested. “If you’re up for another round of this.”
“Always.” Combeferre grinned, wiggling a book from the bottom of the pile. “This one has a star map of the sky for December, while the one on our ceiling is June, so six months apart.”
“Ferre, let’s get this one up, before we start planning the next!” Jehan laughed, stepping off the stepladder. “Your turn.”
Combeferre smiled, grabbing a few sheets of the stars and climbing up, methodically pressing them to the ceiling. The two continued to work on the project for several hours, until the ceiling was filled with the pale, milky green stars, the larger ones forming the constellations, and the smaller filling in the gaps, making it look like a true nighttime sky.
Combeferre stuck the last star into the corner, hopping off the ladder and starting to push the furniture they’d moved back into their proper places, all while clearing a space in the middle of the floor, large enough to lay down in. He cocked his head as he spread a blanket over the wood flooring to make it a little more comfortable, and gestured for Jehan to get on it. “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll get the lights.”
“They aren’t going to glow much yet, Ferre,” Jehan chuckled, but settled on the blanket, reclining himself with his arms under his head.
“I still want to see what it looks like,” Combeferre flicked the lights off, and joined him.
True to Prouvaire’s word, the stars only had the faintest glow to them, but it was enough to make out the shapes if you squinted a little. “It’s a masterpiece.” Combeferre breathed, wrapping his arm around his friend as he shifted into his side. “And it’ll be even better once they have enough time to absorb the light to glow brighter.”
“I can’t wait to see them then.” Jehan shifted to get comfortable, placing a hand on Combeferre’s chest as the two watched the stars until their glow faded into non-existance. It was only then that Combeferre stood, turning the lights back on so the stars could recharge their glow.
“You should stay for dinner, and then when it gets dark outside, we can turn the lights off again.” Combeferre started gathering up the empty sheets of paper, sticking them in a folder to ‘use for other projects later’, and waited for his friend’s response.
“That sounds fine with me,” Jehan nodded, looking back at the ceiling. “Maybe we can convince Enjolras to join us in our stargazing.”
Combeferre grinned, glancing towards the bedroom they both knew Enjolras had holed himself up in while they worked. “He’s hyper-fixated on the school to prison pipeline, and decided he needs to write a paper for fun, and has buried himself in research these past few days, but we certainly can try.”
Later that night, Combeferre, Jehan, and Enjolras, who, despite always insisting he could deal with Combeferre’s puppy eyes without giving in, had been convinced to join them in the living room, and listening as Combeferre and Prouvaire took turns info dumping about each constellation to him.